Fujinon-SW120mm- buying recommendations

[Grafmatic]

Wanted some advice. I’ve been searching for a 120 mm F8 wide angle for the 4 x 5 I have on order. I have been looking at Schneider, Nikkor, and Fuji. Mainly at the Fuji because the Nikkors seem to be the most expensive by quite a bit, followed by the Schneiders, with the Fujis being the best value (assuming they are good lenses, which I hear they are)

So here’s my question. I have already a 180 mm Nikkor W. It’s multi coated. I have the opportunity to get a Fuji 120 mm F8. SW at a very favorable price. I also have an opportunity to wait and find one of the multi coded versions, which cost about $100 more as far as I can tell so I’m trying to decide whether to hold out until I find one of the multi coated ones which would simplify processing because of its greater contrast compatibility, or buy this lens which will help me with my goal of keeping the budget down? Would I really be giving up that much by choosing this lens? What would you do? I have a seller offer for 269 which includes shipping and the Linhof Lynn board, which has the bonus of fitting the camera I have on order. Here is the link from the listing.

Fuji Photo Fujinon SW 120mm f/8 Seiko LS-29 Large Format 4x5 Camera Lens JAPAN | eBay

THIS LENS IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION. DESIGND FOR 4X5. THE GLASS ON BOTH SIDES IS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION AND IS SCRATCH AND SCUFF FREE. TESTED AND WORKS. INCLUDES 1 LENS CAP AND 1 77MM BLACK PRO MIST FILTER.

www.ebay.com

TIA


ps, I have heard of Seiko shutters, but don’t have any idea what a LS 29 is or whether it matters

 

[ags2mikon]

I have one of those and it works fine. It even covers 5x7 well, so you will have plenty of movements at your disposal. I have found that all of the Fuji lenses are about the best value out there.

 

[abruzzi]

Seiko shutters are fine and pretty common on the earlier Fujinon lenses, but I don't know if there are as many people out there that can work on them if you need CLAs. The main issue with the older lenses is single coating vs. multi coating. I don't know how much single coating will be an issue to you. It isn't much of an issue to me (a compendium hood is nice to have!)

 

[xkaes]

I also have an opportunity to wait and find one of the multi coded versions, which cost about $100 more as far as I can tell so I’m trying to decide whether to hold out until I find one of the multi coated ones

Fuji made an EBC Multi-coated 120mm lens????? Perhaps you are confusing it with the 125mm f8 which WAS multi-coated.

http://www.subclub.org/fujinon/byfl.htm

 

[abruzzi]

BTW, @B.S.Kumar has one for sale in the classifieds here:

For Sale - FS: Fujinon-SW 120mm f/8 Lens

For sale is a Fujinon-SW 120mm f/8 Lens in excellent condition. This is the older single-coated version with an image circle of 290mm, just short of covering the 8x10 format. The glass is clean and the Seiko #0 shutter is working properly. There are some minor cosmetic marks on the barrel. Both...

www.photrio.com

I've generally had very good experiences buying from him, and his prices are very reasonable.

 

[xkaes]

One could read that listing and easily conclude that there was a later 120mm that was multi-coated. What it means is that it is an SW lens -- which was an earlier lens series -- and all of the SW lenses were single coated. The later NSW lenses (there were only three of them) -- were EBC coated, but the SW 120mm was replaced by an NSW 125mm.